1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and an operation control method thereof, and more particularly, to a mobile terminal and an operation control method of the mobile terminal, in which various operations performed by the mobile terminal in connection with stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) images can be controlled using eye tracking.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile terminals are portable devices, which can provide users with various services such as a voice calling service, a video calling service, an information input/output service, and a data storage service.
As the types of services provided by mobile terminals diversify, an increasing number of mobile terminals have been equipped with various complicated functions such as capturing photos or moving pictures, playing music files or moving image files, providing game programs, receiving broadcast programs and providing wireless internet services and have thus evolved into multimedia players.
Various attempts have been made to realize such complicated functions as hardware devices or software programs. For example, various user interface (UI) environments, in which users are allowed to easily search for and choose desired functions, have been developed. In addition, the demand for various designs for mobile terminals has steadily grown due to a growing tendency of considering mobile terminals as personal items that can represent personal individuality.
In the meantime, stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) imaging, which is a technique of combining multiple images captured by a camera to create a stereoscopic 3D image, have recently become commonplace. When applied to mobile terminals, stereoscopic 3D imaging can allow the users to create stereoscopic 3D images using the cameras of the mobile terminals and to display various stereoscopic 3D images on the displays of the mobile terminals.
Eye tracking is a technique of keeping track of a user's gaze by analyzing images of the user captured by a camera. Eye tracking has been widely employed in various fields such as sportscasting, the development of systems for physically challenged individuals, and consumer behavior analysis, and research is being conducted into various algorithms for the development of interfaces for eye tracking.
Therefore, a method is needed to control various operations performed by mobile terminals in connection with stereoscopic 3D images using eye tracking.